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UMobile women's team continues run in SSAC tourney, heads to championship game

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Molly Speed made five 3-pointers and scored 15 points in aiding her University of Mobile team in its Southern States Athletic Conference tournament victory in Montgomery Friday night. The Rams will now play for the SSAC tournament title a berth in the NAIA national tournament on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of the University of Mobile)

The West Division No. 3 seeded Lady Rams (22-8) will battle East Division No. 3 seed College of Coastal Georgia for the SSAC Championship and a bid to the 2014 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship, Saturday at 6 p.m.

SSAC Player of the Year McCormick led Mobile with 27 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds, while Curry added 16 points and 19 boards and Molly Speed drained five three-pointers to pour in 15 points for Mobile.

Curry set season-highs in both points and boards in the performance, while McCormick went 13-of-16 from the charity stripe to get nearly half her points.

Mobile dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Wolf Pack 55-33, including a 22-8 edge on the offensive glass. That gave Mobile a big advantage, with both teams shooting under 38% from the field. The 22-rebound edge is the largest rebounding advantage of the season for Mobile.

The teams traded leads five times in the game's first 5:39, at which point Loyola held a 10-9 advantage, before Megan Whittaker pushed it to 13-9 at the 12:58 mark with a three-pointer. The Wolf Pack maintained the lead, with Meghan Temple pushing it to 20-15 at the 9:45 mark. Trailing 22-18, Mobile scored six-straight, with all points coming from Speed and McCormick, to take a 24-22 lead.

After the teams jostled back-and-forth to a 27-27 tie at the 3:06 mark, Mobile closed the half on a 7-1 run to take a 34-28 lead into the break, with the trio of Speed, Curry and McCormick doing the damage.

That was a lead Mobile would never relinquish in the second half. Mobile never even allowed the Wolf Pack within three. Only twice Loyola got as close as five, and each time Mobile had an answer, with Jakela Johnson answering the first instance at the 15:55 mark and Curry answering again at the 13:35 mark. At the 4:39 mark, Loyola pulled within eight, but Speed answered with a three-ball to make it 66-55 and Mobile led by double-digits the rest of the way. Mobile led by as many as 18 in the game.

The Lady Rams exacted revenge on the Wolf Pack, who won both regular season match-ups. Mobile heads to the championship game for the first time since the 2005-06 season.